local

I love beer. Most people would probably consider me a beer snob in that I can’t stand Coors, Budweiser, or other popular brands. I like craft beer and exploring all the different tastes and styles from IPAs to stouts. Though if you really evaluated me to real “Beer Snob” standards I’m still very much of a newcomer, and I’m happy that way. I just like exploring tasty things, and don’t really care much about IBUs and brewing differences required for different grains.

I’m also a bit of an Arizona nerd, and am of the firm opinion there is far, far more to see, do, and experience in this state than most people realize. Complain to me there there is nothing going in Phoenix (or Arizona) and watch my eyes start to twitch. So when a commentor on a local board said there were “no good Arizona beers”, it hit two of my nerd buttons at once. The person is, quite simply, an idiot.

Great Arizona Beer

Being a Baby Beer Nerd, I did not want to craft a rebuttal on my own. I kicked it up the food-chain and asked the Arizona Craft Beer Lovers group on Facebook for their favorite Arizona beers. I specifically did not ask for “best Arizona beers” as this was not a competition, and beer preferences are very subjective. I just wanted to know what the Serious Beer Nerds in Arizona really like. They delivered!

Thirty-three different craft beers…
across thirteen Arizona breweries…
in nine different cities!

It’s a great list. Some of these I haven’t tried myself, so I got my own homework out of the deal to correct that issue.

Beers listed in Green were the most popular in the group, and everything in Yellow also received multiple votes. I put in each brewery’s home city, but most of these beers are available throughout the state. I also added a link to the brewery’s website so you can get more info.

No Excuses – Drink Arizonan!

If you just weren’t sure where to find great beer made in Arizona, or were intimidated by unfamiliar names and labels, you’re out of reasons to procrastinate. Arizona has tons of great beer and brewries, so get out there and try some.

I know there are many others out there, so if I missed your favorite, tell me about it!

Last Sunday I had the pleasure of being the first guest on the first episode of a new live, local, interactive web show called Locals Only: Phoenix. Jennifer Maggiore and Jenn Burgess (“The Jenns”) host the show every Sunday at 5:00pm at a different location around town. They stream it out and take questions and input from the audience. The did a fantastic job of keeping things rolling along with Adonis Ratio, interacting with everyone, and popping out valuable info and tidbits.

I was talking about the stuff I’m usually rambling about: Ignite Phoenix, ImprovAZ, communities, passion, and the many uses for a really thick dictionary. They had a bottle of wine ready to go, and any show where you can imbibe while pontificating is a plus on my scorecard. It was also my first trip down to the Phoenix Public Market, which I really enjoyed and plan to visit again soon. Sadly, the first episode suffered a technical issue and wasn’t recorded. It is now lost to the ages like some of the early Beatles TV Mirror TVs appearances, which makes one more trait I share with John Lennon, I guess. But The Jenns have promised to have me on again so I’d stop crying.

I love the fact that they’re building this whole show using just online tools, and showcasing the great people and events going on in the Valley of the Sun. So follow them on Twitter, tune in to their UStream channel on a Sunday evening, and help spread the word.

It’s been a sad state of affairs that someone who perpetrates to be in as many social media tools, toys, and sites as I do had no decent picture of myself, or “avatar” to use. Partly because most pictures of me look ridiculous (in my opinion), and partly because I never got around to correcting the situation, the end result was that on most sites I was represented by whatever silly default icon they used.

So when some cohorts in the Arizona Twitterverse started focusing on their avatars, I got curious. A local photographer, Tyson Crosbie, shot a session with Ms. Herr and posted the top 15 pictures online for people to view and vote which three they liked the best. I was curious, intrigued even, and set up my own scope shoot with Tyson.

The shoot was a blast, as was seeing the resulting pictures. It confirmed my belief that there is an innate screwball inside my skin that shows up crystal clear on film. We still found 15 good shots, which Tyson put on Flickr, and the voting began.

What a bizarre few days it was as people commented. I just do NOT like looking at pictures of myself, and here was a whole herd of them! I was like a ornithophobe at Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room. Not good. The comments ended up being insightful, supportive, and quite funny. Aside from a few pictures picking up nicknames like “the fart one”, it was far less painful than I feared.

End result – I have three good pictures of myself to use online, although they weren’t the ones I would have chosen for myself. To me, that was one of the best parts of the process because I had an image that appealed to others and not to my own view of myself.

This picture is definitely the most animated of the bunch, and though it is perhaps a bit “Fonzie” it has some energy and fun in it that I was hoping to capture in at least one of the avatars,

I was told this was both the “best smile” in the bunch, and also it “looked like I just let a fart.” Oddly (perhaps sadly) both of those do seem to apply, so I went with it. This one will likely be used for most of my corporate avatars, as I see no reason why business can’t have a smile in it once in a while.

My wife laughed for a good five minutes at this one, as did a lot of others. I don’t quite see it, but that’s part of the point. This was the overall winner and is my new avatar on Twitter, Flickr, and elsewhere.

It was a fun and educational process, and Tyson was great to work with. You may want to read Tyson’s thoughts on your avatar being part of your online brand, and you definitely should check out his other pictures on Flickr. Ms Herr also posted her final thoughts about the process.

Thanks to everyone who helped me select this pictures, because we’re both stuck looking at them for a long time to come!